Turning Point
by ficcrazy
Summary: Ops Center is under new control and someone comes out of the fog to show his true colors


Turning Point  
  
Chapter 1  
  
The alarm clock rings continuously before finally waking Sydney Bristow. She reaches over to turn it off and realizes it's her pager, as usual.  
  
Ops Center, it read. 'I'll take a quick shower and run right over.'  
  
~~  
  
She saw Dixon standing at his desk and walked over. "So what's up?"  
  
"We've gotten a call from the Covenant. Let's go, I'll explain more in the meeting room."  
  
"Wait a second." Michael Vaughn began, as he sat in his chair in the meeting room, "are you saying there's someone else who's a traitor inside the Covenant?"  
  
"Someone who's willing to cooperate with us?" Sydney asked.  
  
"Yes" Director Dixon responded.  
  
"Do we know who that person is?" Jack Bristow asked.  
  
"No, there was no name along with the message, as we would have hoped. Whoever this person is, we have to assume that they are not who they say they are, and that they do plan to turn against us. They've called for a meeting at a boat docking station in Colombia, off the cost of Santa Marta. She or he has agreed to be taken into custody by us. I've spoken with our Covert Ops team and we need to decide which agents we want to send in to abduct the agent. This could be dangerous."  
  
"I'll go." Sydney said.  
  
"Vaughn, you go with her."  
  
~~  
  
Vaughn drove an unmarked black van down a dark alleyway towards the dock in Santa Marta, Colombia.  
  
"Base Ops, this is Boy Scout, we are approaching the target."  
  
Jack stood at a desk back at Ops Center.  
  
"Roger that, Boy Scout. Proceed."  
  
Sydney peered out the window of the van. "Oh my god."  
  
Vaughn realized what she was seeing. "It can't be. This must be a setup. I'm telling you, she has back up."  
  
Sydney's pulse quickened. "Go back," she said. "Turn around and go around-" Bullets shattered the windshield of the van, interrupting Sydney. "Vaughn!"  
  
Vaughn had ducked, avoiding the bullets.  
  
"Let's move." Sydney said. But as they began to jump out of the car, security men in black outfits grabbed them. Sydney back-flipped and kicked the man holding her in the face and he fell backward. Vaughn fought his guy off, but then they were both shot with tranq darts. They fell to the ground. Allison Doren picked them up and dragged them across the dock.  
  
~~ Los Angeles  
  
Allison bypassed the back door to CIA Ops Center by a phone booth with the phone off the hook. Shooting guards as she went, she kneeled down by an air vent and attached a box and tube to the vent.  
  
In the office, tranquilizer gas came out through the vents and agents fell to the floor.  
  
Allison opened a laptop computer and hooked it up to a server in the security room. She hacked in, disabling all access points and usernames and passwords. Sydney woke up, seeing Allison's serious face. Then she smiled, as if she had just achieved something great. Allison noticed that Sydney was awake and elbowed her unconscious.  
  
She moved Sydney and Vaughn into a cell, tied them up, and proceeded down the hall to the elevators.  
  
Agent Jack Bristow woke up. He saw his fellow agents on the ground and knew immediately what was happening. What he didn't know was who was responsible. He saw all computers flashing 'ACCESS DENIED' as agents began to wake up and tried to access their computers. How could someone have disabled accounts? This office is on a secure server. Unless they knew a password.  
  
"Up against the wall, now! All of you!" Jack began to move, but Allison yelled at him, "You! You stand over there, in that corner." As he moved toward the corner, Jack began to devise a strategy in his head. He was about to trip Allison when someone knocked him out, and it wasn't her.  
  
Lauren Reed drove out of her driveway and down the street. Michael was on a mission so she wanted to get to Ops Center as fast as she could. But she had slept late, and was agitated at herself as it was. She had no idea how much he'd want to thank herself later.  
  
When she pulled into the parking lot and saw all the lights out in the windows, she knew something was up. I'll go through a back entrance. She wasn't afraid. Selfishly, she was angry, not at whoever was responsible for whatever was going on, but because she wanted to become a field agent, and felt bad for what she had to do to Dixon. He seemed like a nice guy. She was thinking today she might be able to get a fresh start, considering everything else she had to feel guilty for.  
  
She ran through the hallways after seeing guards down and when she came to the office she was shocked so that she fell on her knees. "Oh my god." She had only known him for a few months, but never had she gotten the impression that he could be.  
  
"You aren't. You can't be."  
  
"I am. Sorry."  
  
"I am. Sorry. Now, get up against the wall." Marshall Flinkman took out a pistol and put it up against Lauren's neck.  
  
'Okay, this is the third time in like a month. I'm not enjoying this.' Lauren thought.  
  
She moved towards the wall and saw an African American woman with long black hair sitting at a computer desk.  
  
"Did you get the files yet?" Marshall asked.  
  
"Yes." Allison replied.  
  
"Are you almost done modifying them?" he asked louder.  
  
"Give me time."  
  
Obviously he didn't care who heard him. 'Besides', he thought, 'who's going to figure out what we're trying to accomplish? They don't know what files we're getting, how we're modifying them. This is too easy. I had these people at my disposal. How could they ever suspect poor, unsociable, innocent Marshall?'  
  
When Marshall's back was turned, Lauren saw this as an opportunity and ran for the hallway.  
  
~~  
  
Vaughn woke up and knew immediately where he was. When he saw Sydney lying on the ground next to him, he pushed himself up and rubbed the rope that tied his hands together against the faucet of the sink. After some hard work with his hands, he finally untied them. He ran over to Sydney, woke her up, and then untied her hands too.  
  
"Allison." She said. "She must have taken everyone hostage."  
  
Vaughn nodded. "But, if she wants information, the server room's where she'd go first."  
  
"Let's move." Syd replied. Circumstances aside, she was excited that she and Vaughn were finally fighting back together again.  
  
Sydney kicked the door to the server room open and saw only one of the rectangular boxes that represented computers in the office blinking. "She's hacking into one of the computers."  
  
"Oh no." Vaughn said.  
  
"What?"  
  
"It's mine."  
  
Luckily, they realized Allison had left their guns in the server room, and they took them.  
  
They ran down the hallway towards the big double doors.  
  
"What do you mean, it's yours?" Sydney asked as she panted. "Why would she be using your computer?"  
  
"She might not be downloading files from me personally, she might just randomly have picked my computer to do whatever she's doing."  
  
"Unlikely. You're the one who acted frightened when you saw the light blinking."  
  
"That's because there is something on there that she might want."  
  
"What are you taking about?"  
  
"On that day that you came home from the exchange, the day Lindsey was shot, I looked at Sloane's files the CIA had. From there, I hacked into his personal computer using his e-mail address we had, and found out something that I was sure was his endgame. I knew you thought he had stolen the Rambaldi device, that it wasn't a setup as he had claimed, and you were right."  
  
"You think Allison is turning against the Covenant, working for Sloane as she did originally, and is trying to hack into your computer and make sure no one else sees those files?"  
  
"Yes, she-"  
  
"Wait." Sydney put out a hand to stop him.  
  
They walked very slowly towards the entrance to the office when someone stepped in front of them and pulled them to the ground. Without thinking, Sydney grabbed the person's hands and held them behind her back before realizing that she was Lauren.  
  
"Sorry." Sydney took out a voice blocker (like the one she used in 'The Two') that was unlimited time.  
  
"Are you okay?" Vaughn asked.  
  
"Yes." Lauren replied. "I'm fine. Besides having a gun held against me for the third time now. Did that woman get you?"  
  
"Yes, she was the one who was supposedly turning herself in." Vaughn said.  
  
Sydney snorted. Vaughn gave her a sideways glance. He explained to Lauren what his and Sydney's theory was of why Allison was here.  
  
"She was accessing files." Lauren replied.  
  
Sydney started, "The only problem I'm having with this is that we're on a secure server. The only way Allison could have hacked in is if she had a password. She has someone on the inside. She must."  
  
"She does. You're not going to like it."  
  
"Who?"  
  
"Marshall Flinkman."  
  
Sydney almost laughed. "No, you've got to be kidding me."  
  
"I wouldn't suggest it, but go in there and see for yourself. He was the one who asked her if she had gotten the files. She has. He was the one who gave her the passwords. I know this is shocking, but we haven't got much time."  
  
"Is my father there?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
Then Lauren's face lit up. "I've got a plan."  
  
~~  
  
Jack saw Marshall go towards him. Jack tripped Marhsall took the gun from him, and pointed it at him. He was about to take out his own and point it at Allison, but she had gone.  
  
~~  
  
"Ok, ready, move." Vaughn said. He and Sydney and Lauren crouched toward her car. Lauren pressed in the combination, took out her laptop, and they moved back in.  
  
When they were in the server room, Lauren hooked her laptop up and let Sydney do the hacking work. She shut down the power and made sure she had a flashlight. Vaughn led the way, with Lauren behind him and Sydney behind her. Then they heard a voice: "I knew you had escaped."  
  
Allison knocked Vaughn and Lauren out and confronted Sydney. "Here we go agai-"  
  
Syd lifted her leg up and knocked Allison in the chin. She punched Sydney in the side of the head and she fell but got back. Allison tripped her, but then Syd grabbed her by the leg with her own two legs and pushed her to the ground. Her head hit the pavement and Sydney heard a definite crack. She apologized to Vaughn and Lauren before waking them up with necessary force. They got to the office and Syd saw Marshall.  
  
"Oh my god. Dad, wait!"  
  
Jack turned around. "Sydney!"  
  
Marshall took the opportunity to grab the gun back and kick Jack in the stomach. He leaned him against the center desk and punched him in the face.  
  
'Should I, or shouldn't I?' Vaughn thought. But before he could do anything, Marhsall grabbed Lauren, put the pistol to her head, and she thought, 'This is it, If I'm going to die, I have to do this.'  
  
"Wait!" she cried. "I need to come out."  
  
"What do you mean?" Vaughn asked. Sydney's mind went straight to her dream about Lauren.  
  
"I've been.disloyal."  
  
Vaughn looked down. Weiss ran in with men in black suits and shot Marshall. He must have heard Lauren because one of the men put her in handcuffs and took her away.  
  
Chapter 3  
  
Los Angeles  
  
Joint Intelligence Commitee  
  
Special Session  
  
"Lauren Reed, you have been called here today because you have surrendered. You say that you have been disloyal. We'd like something a little more concrete."  
  
Senator Kendall sat at one of the rectangular tables in the room where the session was taking place.  
  
"Yes, Mr. Kendall. The first thing I thought I should say is that I have lied about my name. My name, Lauren Reed, is an alias. " The other people in the room began to hear a slight trace of a Russian accent in her voice.  
  
"My name is Lena Espinosa. I was sent her by SVR, two years ago."  
  
"Why? What was your assignment?"  
  
"My assignment was to seduce and marry a certian CIA agent, Michael Vaughn. To keep tabs on his work. I was told he had just lost someone, and that it was likely he would be vulnerable. After becoming comfortable with my cover, Lauren Reed, an NSC liason from Australia that would be investigating Arvin Sloane, and giving him his pardon, my job became easier. I know this probably doesn't mean anything to you, but I've never been closer with anyone else than Michael Vaughn."  
  
~~  
  
"Espinosa? Are you sure her name is Espinosa?" Sydney paced back and forth in her living room.  
  
Weiss got up from his seat on the couch. "That's what Kendall said, yeah."  
  
"I can't believe Kendall's a senator now. I had no idea where the hell he was, I wasn't even thinking about him."  
  
"Why were you so surprised at the name 'Espinosa'?"  
  
~~  
  
Ops Center  
  
"Dad, I remember it. Anna Espinoa was an agent for K-Directorate, the Russian equivalent for SD-6. When I worked for them, even during my time as a double agent, she was my enemy. It's very possible that Laur---, that Lena is related to her."  
  
"I'll look into it." Jack said.  
  
"Dad, I want to talk to her."  
  
Sydney walked down the familiar hallway to the CIA's prisoner's cells. She had walked this same way many times when visiting her mother. She had walked this same way when going to interrogate Sark, and talk to Elsa Caplan, or whatever her real name was.  
  
She knocked on the glass window hard. 'Ruthless' she thought.  
  
"I want to talk to you."  
  
Lena looked up from the floor, and got up and walked over to the window. "What do you want?"  
  
"What do I want? I want you to tell me what your real story is. I've heard this before; a female russian agent, sent to seduce and marry a CIA agent and keep tabs on his work. It's common to me now, and I don't like it. What's more, I don't believe it. It's too simple. Plus, I recognize your name. Espinosa. Now, I'll ask you this--does the name Anna Espinosa ring a bell, hm?"  
  
Sydney took out a small machine that looked like a PDA. There was a green line going across it, steadily producing the same shape spike, beeping at the same rate.  
  
"No."  
  
The device's green line began to produce more spikes, and the beeping became more rapid. Sydney pushed the device through the tiny hole and grabbed Lena's hand, squeezing it hard. "How is Anna Espinosa related to you?!"  
  
"She was my sister!"  
  
Sydney let go and stepped back.  
  
"We were very close. We both knew that we both were against the United States, despite our very complicated jobs. She was older than me. She was the one who suggested I go into SVR."  
  
~~  
  
Lena is sitting in a chair with stickers and wires stuck to her face and head. A CIA hypnotist/therapist sat facing her.  
  
"Lena, tell me where you are."  
  
Flashback: Lena is sitting in a warehouse, on a crate. Anna walks in.  
  
"I'm in a warehouse. Anna just came in."  
  
"Did Anna say anything?"  
  
"She's saying...she's...she's saying that she's going to Argentina. She says that SD-6 is sending an agent to retrieve what she's trying to retrieve."  
  
"Did she say what the agent's name was?"  
  
"She's saying..she's.....Syd...Syd..ney...Sydney Bristow."  
  
Sydney stood looking in, shocked. Vaughn stood beside her, his arm around her.  
  
Later, Sydney went to visit Lena again.  
  
"You knew about me. You knew who I was."  
  
"I guess."  
  
"Don't give me that. Let me tell you something; I will find Anna, I promise you, and I promise you, we will find out everything she told you about me. We are not through with you yet."  
  
~~  
  
Vaughn sat next to Syd in the office. "So..."he began, smiling.  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"I was thinking..."  
  
"Vaughn, your wife knew about me. She could have been watching me, she..." he put a finge to her lips.  
  
"What I was saying was...why don't we start over?"  
  
Later, they walked into the CIA Rotunda washroom, they're arms around each other, their lips touching. "By the way..." Syd said...  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"I guess I can start over."  
  
"Cool."  
  
Five minutes later, they walked out of the Rotunda hand in hand. 


End file.
